Friday, April 8, 2011

How can you have a university without a philosophy department?

How can you have a university without a philosophy department?

This is from Janet D. Stemwede' blog Adventures in Ethics and Science.  I think it makes its point very clearly.

1 comment:

  1. Fayetteville State University, where I've taught (largely Critical Thinking classes) for the last three years has never had a Philosophy department, and probably never will.

    That means that we've been trapped in the vicious cycle of not being able to get enrollment -- and when we have enrollment, it's very difficult to get the students to put in the work they would for a "real" class (i.e. one in a department) -- for classes, and since we've got low enrollment, there's no "student interest" justifying a program.

    So, I threw myself into interdisciplinary work, working to infuse Critical Thinking and Ethics (FSU also has no Ethics course in the Core!) into other areas of the curriculum.

    Here's some examples of what you can do if you're a philosopher stuck in an institution that does not see the need for a philosophy program

    A sum-up from last semester of our use of the CLA to promote CT: http://gbsadler.blogspot.com/2010/09/cla-at-fsu-model-for-incorporation.html

    Our current QEP, which features CT and the CLA as central for the entire institution: http://www.uncfsu.edu/qep/index.htm

    A bit on the Ethics in Business Education project at FSU: http://gbsadler.blogspot.com/2010/11/crossing-tracks-ethics-in-business.html

    and: http://gbsadler.blogspot.com/2011/03/lessons-from-ebep-workshop-part-1-of-2.html

    I think that this sort of work has its merit, and not having a program might actually in some respects be a spur towards it -- though other conditions are required as well

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